Headed Towards Home
by LanceIsHot
Summary: When Lance gets fed up with the Brotherhood, he decides to pay a visit to his old friends. (oneshot)


Okay, sorry if it's a bit sappy, but I always was kind of curios as what happened to his friends. And I just made up their names, they only say "Griff" in the show, so, I'm sorry if they do have names. Its set a little after the summer begins, so, if Lance hadn't gotten kicked out, he would have already graduated high school. And did anyone else notice that Lance's friends were in class in "Sins of the Sun" when Kurt teleports Kitty to school?  
  
It was a normal day at the Brotherhood house, Fred had eaten all the food, Todd was pestering Wanda, Wanda was trying to kill Todd, and Pietro was running around, making everything worse. Lance sat at the coffee table, trying to hold on to what was left of his sanity. Pietro ran up beside him, "What's wrong Lance, mourning over the loss of your Kitty-cat?" Fred and Todd laughed a bit, giving Wanda the chance to get out of the room, a bit of an apologetic look on her face, but "better they bug you then me," in her eyes.  
  
"Pietro, do me a favor and shut up," Lance said, feeling a headache coming on.  
  
"Aw, what's wrong with Lancey-poo?" Pietro asked.  
  
"Lancey-poo is being annoyed and is about ready to bring the roof down on three lunatics," Lance replied through gritted teeth. He pushed Pietro and Todd out of his way, and headed towards his room.  
  
He thought back to his old school, his old friends, his old life. Sure, the stealing, lying and cheating was the same, but he was with normal friends, with normal lives. Lance couldn't help but miss it. He got an idea. He went to his room, with the telephone, and barricaded the door. He slowly dialed the numbers of his old friends, Tim Griff. He got an answering machine.  
  
"Griff, it's me, I want to talk to you guys, meet me at the park behind the elementary school tomorrow night at eight." He highly doubted Griff would recognize his voice, he had gone through a lot of changes since the last time they saw each other, but he figured the mystery would be enough to bring his old friends back.  
  
He quickly called his other friend, Ryan Terrill, and left the same message. He hung up the phone, feeling slightly better knowing that he might be able to see some people that weren't considered insane. His thoughts drifted back to the, "good old days" as he sometimes called it. All the graffiti they had left on the walls, the pranks they pulled on students and teachers alike...and how they tried to steal the answers to the midterms. When everything went wrong.  
  
He wished, for the thousandth time that he had stayed in class that day, instead of putting graffiti on the lockers. Life would be so much easier if he had never met Kitty Pryde, that he never tried to get her to cheat, that he never met Mystique. Life would be so much easier; he'd still be safe with his foster parents, and not be starving in a house with four lunatics.  
  
He looked in the mirror for a second, studying the man he had become in the past year. He was tired of watching his lunatic friends; he wanted to go back to the way it was before he was a mutant. He hated having to do everything, how he had to be the leader, just because he was the oldest. It had turned him into a man he didn't want to be. Summers was a good leader, the Professor was a good leader, Magneto...well, he was more an insane leader than anything, but, Lance wasn't a leader. He just couldn't do it anymore.  
  
"I've got to get out of here," he said to his reflection. He got up from his bed, not noticing how the house had quieted down since he entered his room. He opened the door, only to see Fred and Pietro looking mad, and Todd looking at him sadly.  
  
"You don't like us anymore?" He asked.  
  
"You were listening to my calls?" Lance said, not caring that his friends were upset.  
  
"We figured you were calling Kitty, and we always listen to those," Pietro explained. "We didn't realize that you were trying to ditch us."  
  
"I wasn't trying to ditch you guys," Lance said. "I just want to see some of my old friends."  
  
"Why, none of us have ever gone back," Fred said, confused.  
  
Lance was stating to lose his temper, he'd have to leave soon if he wanted to be at the park by tomorrow night, and he lived pretty far away. "I didn't have a choice about leaving; it was either here or Juvy Hall. And you guys might be okay living with hyperactive, psychotic mutant idiots, but I'm not."  
  
"Wow, Lance, those are pretty big words for someone who got kicked out of high school," Pietro said. "Fine, go ahead, leave us, again. But, just like when you went to live with the X-geeks, I can only say, you're too different to be accepted by them. You're a mutant, they won't take you back, and you know what? Neither will we." The trio of mutants walked away, leaving Lance to think about his decision.  
  
"You guys," he called after them, "I'm just going to visit, and you guys can take care of yourselves while I'm gone." Even as he spoke the words, he knew it wasn't true. The last time he had left, it had been a madhouse when he got back. The house was a mess, and Lance knew nothing got done when he was gone. No bills were paid, no one went to the store, and it was a mess. And his friends had been almost unwilling to except his help when he got back. They were almost unwilling to except him when they got back. But that was then, and he knew he wouldn't be gone long. So, with one last look at his friends, he got into his jeep, and headed towards home. The Next Day Lance got to the park about 20 minutes early, and had enough time to get a bite to eat before he saw his old friend's coming. They looked almost exactly the same as before, the baggy clothes, unruly hair, they hadn't changed at all. They were looking around the park, talking quietly with each other.  
  
"Over here," Lance called out to them. Griff and Terrill looked around for a second, and when they saw him, they looked as though they were debating on running, but decided not to, and walked over.  
  
"Well, well," Griff said, "look who finally decided to come back."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lance asked.  
  
"Why'd you have to leave? You coulda got those test scores easily, but you just ran off," Terrill said.  
  
"Please, like they would've let me stay there after I brought down the building. I didn't want to get sent to Juvenile Hall, sorry if you lost out on some money," Lance said, feeling his temper, which was so close to the surface these days, rising.  
  
"If you didn't want to get caught, why'd we see you on the news?" Griff asked. "And, by the way, they didn't capture your good side."  
  
"Look, I came back here to see you guys, are we going to talk about my TV career, or can we go get some soda's or something." Griff and Terrill gave each other a worried glance. "Wait, what's wrong with a soda?" Lance asked, confused.  
  
"Well..." Terrill started, "when the building collapsed and you and that Pryde disappeared, we figured you guys did it, and, with all the mutant stuff going on..." He trailed off, not sure of what Lance would do to him if he finished his sentence.  
  
"We don't want to get in trouble for being with you," Griff finished. "Principal Wilkins was pretty upset with you, and once she found out you were a mutant, she went about as crazy as that Kelly dude."  
  
"Yeah," Terrill said, "she said she didn't want any of us to be seen with you and Pryde."  
  
"You wait until now to listen to her?" Lance asked, aghast. "I came back to see you guys, I don't want all this crap about how you've turned over a new leaf, and you don't want to get caught with me."  
  
"Where do you come off saying we're the bad guys? You disappear for almost a year, without the answers to the test, you don't ever make contact, you tore down half the school, and you just expect us to pretend nothing happened?" Griff asked. "Sorry Lance, we may used to have been good partners before, but... that's a lot to forget about."  
  
"Partners?" Lance asked. "Not even friends, but partners?"  
  
"Lance you know that it was never more than that," Terrill said. "So, why don't you go back to your little mutant friends, I'm outta here." And he walked off, Griff not far behind.  
  
"Fine, I don't need losers like you, I have real friends," he called after them, hoping that what he said was true; that the Brotherhood would take him back. They had seemed pretty upset about him leaving.  
  
After thinking a moment, he knew they would. All he would need to do is offer Fred some food, or Todd some bugs or something, because what made them different from his old friends was that they were friends. They were brothers; Lance had to admit, even though it sounded corny to him. And Pietro and Wanda would always take him back, no matter how big of a fight they got in. He knew he could count on that.  
  
So, with one last look at his old friends, and the knowledge that he had something better waiting for him, he got into his jeep, and headed towards home. 


End file.
